Attention International Travelers: T-Mobile Has Made Data And Texting Free In Over 100 Countries

Roaming fees are the bane of many a traveler, especially for data and text. Even when a company owns the same network you’re using, you still get whacked with massive fees. But come November 1st, T-Mobile users won’t have to worry about it; being on a Simple Choice plan with them means free texts and data overseas, or at least in 100 countries.

It’s not a total free ride, obviously. First of all, calls are twenty cents a minute, which is cheaper than roaming fees but not really that great of an overall price. And, of course, there are a few restrictions:

While the data is free, it won’t be particularly fast. Customers can expect network speeds at around the same level that they get in the US after they are throttled. Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said the average speed customers would get would be around 128 kilobits a second.

In other words, your basic data use is free; finding maps and the like. Needless to say, T-Mobile is selling “speed boosts” that let you get more data faster if you just have to play The Simpsons: Tapped Out while overseas. And on your plan, over a three month period at least half of your data usage will need to be in the US to keep qualifying for the plan.

But really, that’s more details than anything else at this point. If you’re just planning on taking a vacation, and don’t want to buy a prepaid phone to try and stay in touch when you need to make a call, it’s starting to look like T-Mobile is a lot more forward thinking than some of the other carriers.